The Grand 1894 Opera House Before and After the 1900 Storm

Front cover of March 4, 1895, program from the Grand 1894 Opera House.

In May 1894, Henry Greenwall, theatre manager, and notable Galveston civic leaders including Leon Blum, John Sealy Jr., and Morris Lasker formed the Grand Opera House Company and were able to raise $100,000 for construction of the building. In almost every way, the Grand was intended to be an upgrade of the Tremont Opera House, formerly located on Tremont and Market Streets. The Grand Opera House would be an upgrade in terms of seating and amenities. It even initially included a 56-room hotel.

The Grand 1894 Opera House opened on January 3, 1895, less than 7 months after the start of its construction by New Orleans architect Frank Cox.

Galveston Daily News advertisement of the productions "Daughters of Eve" and "An Unequal Match," both starring Marie Wainwright, at the Grand 1894 Opera House, January 4, 1895.

The Grand’s first show was a live performance of the play “Daughters of Eve,” starring Marie Wainwright. The Galveston Daily News described the opening as “the most important dramatic event in the history of [Galveston]” and anointed the venue as a “new and magnificent Thespian temple.”

From that show through to the end of the century, the Grand hosted an array of performances, including farcical comedies, touring opera companies, and a concert honoring officers of the USS Texas shortly before the Spanish-American War of 1898. The Grand also presented some of the earliest “moving pictures,” including a 15-minute showing of a bullfight during the final act of Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen.”

Programs of the events would give details about the performers and the overall productions. One program describes a performance on March 4, 1895, of Adrien Barbusse’s “Lightfoot’s Wife,” starring Stuart Robson, a comedic stage actor who performed in New York, London, and Boston. This program also contains advertisements for a production of “Bohemian Girl,” staged by Jules Grau’s opera company, and a group of performances by the Wang Opera Company.

Another program details a piano recital on March 2, 1900, performed by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, an acclaimed pianist who later became the Prime Minister of Poland in 1919. These programs come from the Grand 1894 Opera House Programs collection, which is available for viewing at Rosenberg Library’s Galveston and Texas History Center. They not only contain information about the performances but also include several pages of advertisements from local businesses and sponsors, further displaying the vibrant cultural and commercial life of Galveston during the Grand’s early years.

On September 8, 1900, a massive hurricane struck Galveston, killing approximately 8,000 people on the island and several thousand more on the Texas mainland. The city suffered an estimated $30 million worth of property damage. The storm inflicted severe damage to the Grand’s roof, auditorium, stagehouse, and east wall, forcing the venue to close for over a year.

In June 1901, Galveston leaders Bertrand Adoue and Isaac H. Kempner purchased the Grand and began its restoration. On October 14, 1901, 13 months after the storm and mere days after its restoration was fully completed, the Grand reopened to the public with a performance of “The Burgomaster.” It would endure and survive many storms since, change ownership many times, and host a who’s-who of entertainers past and present, but the Grand 1894 Opera House stands as a preeminent symbol of Galveston’s resilience and longstanding cultural legacy, and it continues to host popular entertainment today.